The Second Pontmercy
by BrandonMichelle
Summary: The second child of Marius and Cosette is born! Another prequel to my fic "The Pontmercys" . It fits into the continuity i built with that story, so go check out that one as well . Novel verse based fic .
1. Expecting

**The Second Pontmercy**

Marius Pontmercy was making his way to his bedroom one evening by himself; Cosette had headed up earlier that night because she was heavily pregnant and tired easily now. She was expecting their second child; in fact it was due any day now, so it wasn't surprising that she was so tired carrying another person around with her.

Marius entered the bedroom quietly, not only did Cosette occupy the room too, but their one year old daughter Marie as well and he didn't want to wake them. When he entered the room the first thing he noticed was Cosette asleep with little Marie curled up against her chest. Marie was an adorable baby, and the apple of Marius's eye. She had been named after him, little Marie Pontmercy, and she had inherited her fathers eyes and hair colour. Marius had thought he knew what love was when he met Cosette, but then they had Marie and that's when he really knew what love was. It was a different kind of love though, different to what he felt for Cosette but still love. He would have laid down his life for his daughter and he knew it.

It hadn't been an easy journey though, Marie wasn't the easiest baby to care for, or perhaps she was, they just had no basis for comparison. She could be very fussy sometimes and there had been times when she seemed like she would never stop crying, "_but she was a baby after all" _Marius thought and they had managed with her the best they could, they had hired a nanny to help with the childcare and they were the best parents they knew how to be.

Marius thought Marie was asleep as well as Cosette but as he approached the bed he saw that her eyes were open and she was sucking her thumb. He could tell already that Marie was going to be a very thoughtful child; she had a habit already of looking pensive and meditative even as a baby. Sometimes Marius would catch her in her cot looking like she was deep in thought, _oh she was definitely her fathers daughter_ Marius had thought to himself remembering his younger days when he would spend hours alone brooding.

As Marius approached his two girls Marie noticed him and her little face lit up when she saw her papa, she smiled at him and reached out one of her little arms and babbled something in her baby voice, at this point Cosette stirred and opened her eyes, smiling too when she saw Marius.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to wake you". Marius said quietly slipping onto the bed next to her

"It's alright" she said softly "We were just lying here waiting for Papa, weren't we Marie?" she said kissing her babies hair and smiling at Marius.

"Here let me take her, I'll put her to bed" he said.

Marius took Marie gently out of Cosettes arms and held her as she placed her head on his chest this time and continued sucking her thumb, he carried her over to the cot that they kept at one side of the room and he laid her gently down in it. He tucked her blanket around her and watched as she rubbed her eyes and closed them, settling down to sleep quickly. "_She was so adorable right now_" Marius thought, she was all big eyes and a button nose that it would have taken the hardest heart in the world not to fall in love with her.

Marius left her sleeping side and changed into his night-clothes and joined Cosette in bed, slipping into the warms sheets and pulling her close to him, well as close as he could get her which wasn't easy with her swollen stomach.

"How are you feeling my darling?" he asked her

"I'm very well, my back hurts a little sometimes like it did with Marie." She said, then after pausing for a moment she added "I think it'll arrive soon Marius, I feel ready".

Marius kissed her forehead and softly asked her "Are you scared?"

"A little" she said honestly "It was so painful having Marie, such agony. And I worry something will happen to the baby, or me".

Marius too worried about that, how could he not? But Marie's birth had been without complication so it had eased his worries somewhat.

"I'm sure everything will be fine Cosette" he said, not really wanting to think about the terrible things that could happen "Soon there'll be a new Pontmercy in the word, just think of that" he added smiling widely.

Cosette smiled as well, "Do you want a boy this time?" she asked him

"I just want a healthy baby". Marius replied

"I think I'd like a boy this time, wouldn't a little boy be just wonderful?" Cosette said

"Well…." He said, thinking about it, "I think any baby we have is going to be wonderful Cosette"

"Of course it will, but I want to give you a son Marius" She said "Someone to carry on your family name, our name I mean" she said, correcting herself. "Don't you want that?"

"Cosette, I didn't marry you so you could produce heirs for me" Marius told her. "I married you because I love you and i wanted to be with you". He kissed her forehead again gently and continued "You could give me a hundred daughters and I'd still love you and all one hundred of them just the same as if we had a son".

"I think we'd have to work very hard to have a hundred babies Marius" Cosette said, looking at him coyly.

"Yes but it'd be fun though wouldn't it?" he said looking at her with a devious smile, and then he leaned in to kiss her lips.

"My point is Cosette; if God wants us to have a son then he'll send us a son. But whatever baby you have I'll love it, and we'll raise it and we'll be a family. I can't ask for anything better than that".

Cosette smiled at him lovingly, "Me either, It's going to be wonderful" she said. And then closed her eyes and slipped into a peaceful sleep.


	2. The new arrival

Before they knew it, it was time for the new baby to make its arrival. Cosette had begun to feel contractions early one morning and by lunchtime a midwife had been summoned and Cosette was back in their bedroom panting through contractions and trying not to get too worked up from the pain, which wasn't easy.

Marius had spent a lot of the morning with Marie; she seemed to sense that something was going on because she had been very upset and fussy all morning.

"You should go be with Marie" Cosette had said early on into the labour. "She needs you more than I do right now"

Marius disagreed however "I don't want to leave you alone Cosette".

"It's going to be a while yet Monsieur" The midwife chimed in "There's really not a lot you can do at the moment".

"Go take care of Marie please, I'll be alright". Said Cosette

Marius did as Cosette asked and kissed her temple before leaving the bedroom to tend to his daughter. Most of the morning had been spent pacing up and down the living room holding Marie close to him and trying to settle her, he was nervous about Cosette and he felt like Marie was feeling the same as him so the two of them together were just a wreck, eventually though she calmed down and just rested her head against her papas shoulder quietly.

As for the rest of the family, Aunt Gillenormand had been worrying all morning for Cosette too, but in her own way. She had been keeping to herself and gripped her rosary beads tight in her hands and had been praying that Cosette and the child would be safe. Marius had noticed this behaviour from her and he was quietly grateful. He knew his Aunt well, she was never one for overtly expressing her emotions but she was quite fond of Cosette as she felt she was a lovely young lady, so to know how worried she was for her was quite touching. Grandfather had been slowing down immensely lately and nowadays mostly just spent his days sitting silently, Marius knew inside he didn't have a lot of time left, it was obvious to everyone in the house, but he would have been lieing if he said he wasn't still sad about it.

By early afternoon Cosette was calling for Marius again and he raced to be by her side, and after much breathing and panting and pushing and screaming the second Pontmercy child arrived into the world and it seemed that Cosette had gotten her wish, it was a boy!

The midwife cleaned the child up, cut his cord and wrapped him up in a blanket before placing the boy in Cosettes arms. She was so happy that she could only gaze at him; he had a patch of dark hair just like his sister and blue eyes like herself. Marius was happy beyond belief that it had been a safe arrival and that they were both alright, and he shed a few joyous tears as he looked at his firstborn son for the very first time.

"A boy" Cosette said dreamily looking at the child, then she turned to Marius who was just gazing at the boy too. "Oh Marius, we have a son!" she said to him happily as if he hadn't just witnessed the great event.

"I know Cosette" he said smiling at her "It's wonderful, just wonderful".

The three of them just sat there together for the longest time as happy as they could be, Cosette realised after a while that Marius hadn't held him yet and cursed herself for being so selfish. "Here, meet your papa" she said to the baby whilst handing the boy over to Marius.

Marius took the baby gently into his arms and simply looked at him so proudly "Hello my boy" he said happily.

_"Cosette had been right"_ he thought, a son was a wonderful thing to have. Right there in his arms was his fathers legacy, the continuation of his name, his hopes for the future and the future of France; it was all inside this tiny little boy. Then he realised that that was quite a lot of pressure for a baby so instead he just focused on loving him just for him. He smiled again and kissed the little boys head.

"I think he looks like my papa" Cosette then said, smiling at the boy

Marius paused for a moment on hearing her talk about her dear papa, his father in law, Jean Valjean. He would have made a fine grandfather, Marius was sure of that, but they both knew he wasn't Cosette's real father so it surprised him that she could think that her son would resemble him.

"Cosette" He began to say disbelievingly "You know he couldn't….."

Cosette stopped him before he could say anything more, "I know its impossible Marius, I do know that" she said "But he does, I'm sure of it".

"Perhaps you're right Cosette" he said, humouring his wife, "_she'd just been through labour and given him a son, she could think anything she wanted too right now" _he thought.

"Where's Marie?" Cosette asked

"She's with the nanny my dear" Marius said

"Would you bring her in here? I want her to meet her new brother" Cosette said happily

"Of course" he said and handed the boy back to her, he kissed her forehead once again before leaving her side to go collect his daughter.

When he stepped out of the bedroom he leaned against the door for a moment and smiled to himself, he had a son and that felt wonderful, but more importantly both the baby and Cosette were safe and healthy and that was the best thing he could have asked for. He closed his eyes and breathed out heavily, the worry that had been there all morning was gone and he could relax again.

He didn't notice his aunt at the other end of the hallway until she spoke and broke him from his reverie.

"Is everything alright?" she asked bluntly

"Everything's fine Aunt, They're both healthy" he said smiling slightly. "It's a boy" he added.

"Oh, well that's…that's lovely". She said flatly, but inside she was quite relieved at the outcome.

"Would you like to go in and see Cosette, I'm sure she'd like that". Marius said

"Oh no thank you, I'm sure she's quite tired at the moment" she said, and then quickly walked away.

Marius left the hallway and went to go find Marie, before he did so he went into the living room where his grandfather was sitting quietly. His heart did go out to the poor man, he wasn't sure how aware he was of what was happening that day, sometimes he was more lucid than at other times but Marius had been too distracted all morning to really find out.

He approached him quietly and kneeled down beside him "Grandfather?" he said quietly and the old man turned his head to look at him.

"Grandfather, I have a son". He told the old man.

Grandfather looked at him, his eyes registering what the young man had just said; He just smiled at Marius and reached his hand out to him. He took the old mans hand and his Grandfather patted it and said quietly "Well done".

After a short time there he left again and went to find his daughter, she was with the nanny in the nursery, when she saw him she smiled and reached out her little baby arms to him. He picked her up and kissed her little face. "My beautiful girl" he said "You're a big sister today Marie, yes you are!" he said, talking like a fool. He carried on talking to her like that whilst he took her to his bedroom to meet her new brother.

Marie's face lit up again to see her mother and Marius placed the little girl on the bed next to Cosette so she could introduce her to her brother. Obviously she was too young to know what was going on, but she was a perfect angel when she saw the new baby, she didn't fuss or shy away she just sat there with her mother and father and the three of them bonded with the new arrival.

"Marius?" Cosette said after a while "Can we name him Jean? Jean-Georges? After both our fathers".

Marius only had to think about that for a second before he knew that the name suited the little man perfectly, "Jean-Georges Pontmercy?" he said, "I like that". Then he looked at the little boy and smiled again "Hello Jean, welcome to the world my son".

**The End**


End file.
